RSS has been promoted as the hands off method for subscribing to all feeds. It's a once only process and thereafter you don't need to do anyhting to keep it functioning. RSS subscription has been advocated for the last few years with the knowledge that it will become part of the status quo very quickly.

But there's a hold-up. People are not subscribing through RSS as much as presumed. The reason given is that it is too complex to set up. Many have tried to simplify the process and give good explanations but still only some subscribe by this method. Now the SEO consultants are promoting a dual hand approach allowing subscription by RSS or by email. They have become so adamant about this style of doing it that their analysis programs that some have eg: http://www.websitegrader.com will penalise you site ranking by their algorithms if an eamil subscription ad an RSS feed is not available.

A product by Feedburner allows you to use the XML or Atom feed for subscription by email. It's a free service and one recommended as soon as you can.